Notes: Busch, Sauter fail post-race height inspection

LOUDON, N.H. -- The cars of drivers Kyle Busch and Johnny Sauter failed post-race height inspection following completion of the Lenox Industrial Tools 300 on Sunday at New Hampshire International Speedway.

But before anyone goes too crazy over the news of the infractions, spokesman Ramsey Poston of NASCAR cautioned that the failures of the two cars did not appear to be nearly as serious as the ones earlier this season that led to large fines, 100-point driver and owner penalties and up to six-race suspensions for teams for messing with the template of the Car of Tomorrow.

Lap-by-Lap

Denny Hamlin went in for two tires on Lap 256, took the lead on Lap 257 and held on to win the Lenox Industrial Tools 300.

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"Both cars were too low in the left front," Poston said. "But we don't consider this tampering with the integrity of the Car of Tomorrow. It's not that kind of an infraction. It's more of what we would call a competition infraction."

Poston said that points penalties and fines could be forthcoming for the No. 5 team of Busch and the No. 70 team of Sauter, likely to be announced Tuesday. But he added that their finishes in Sunday's race -- 11th for Busch and 14th for Sauter -- would stand.

Slugging it out

Richard "Slugger" Labbe, crew chief for the No. 14 Dodge of driver Sterling Marlin, said he felt badly for fellow crew chiefs Steve Letarte, Chad Knaus and Tony Eury Jr., who were serving suspensions and were cut off from their respective teams during Sunday's race.

"Stevie, and Chad and Tony Jr., they're all out there in the motor-home lot," Labbe said before Sunday's race. "I went out and had a couple beers with them the other night. It's tough, though, when everyone comes into the garage at 7 a.m. and you can't come. It's like being a little kid and trying to reach up to the top of the refrigerator to get a cookie out of the cookie jar. I'm telling you, it's tough, man."

Labbe should know. He served a four-race suspension for rules violations last year and said it was one of the most difficult months of his life.

"These guys don't know how tough it is until it happens to them," Labbe said. "Then they'll understand. It's part of your life. It's in your blood, and then all of a sudden you don't get to do it. I guess it's like an alcoholic or a drug addict. If you don't have your fix, you go crazy. That's what it is with racing, with all these people in the garage. We do it because we love it."

Newman's folly

Ryan Newman was running near the front Sunday when a mishap on pit road cost him dearly. Newman was leaving his pit stall after a routine stop on Lap 129 when he ran over the hose, cut it and dragged a piece of the hose and the nozzle attached to the end of it down pit road.

He then had to serve a stop-and-go penalty for removing equipment from his pit box, dropping him to 27th on the subsequent restart. Although he rallied to finish 10th, a commendable comeback, he still said afterward that he was disappointed.

"I guess [crew members] didn't get the hose pulled back across the car and it got caught in the front of the car," Newman said. "We snagged it and that was pretty much the end of it for us. That cost us a lot of track position. That cost us a good top-five finish and potentially a shot at winning the race."

Birthday boys

Lots of milestone birthday candles were being lit over the weekend at the New Hampshire track. Jeff Burton, driver of the No. 31 Chevrolet, turned 40 on Friday. Sterling Marlin, driver of the No. 14 Dodge, celebrated his 50th birthday on Saturday.

And on Monday, the King, Richard Petty, was to celebrate his 70th birthday. But he was going to wait to have the candles on his cake lit until after his return from Loudon to Randleman, N.C.

"I can't remember the last time I've been home to celebrate my birthday," Petty said. "I've always been in Daytona [for the July race there]. That was fine, too. We won a lot of races there, but it will be nice to be around the family. It's just the way the date landed this year.

"I don't know what anyone has planned. I leave that up to my wife. She'll let me know and we'll do whatever she says. Then it's back to Daytona because that's what we know."

Disappointing return

For the second time in three races, driver John Andretti was reunited with Petty Enterprises. But much like at Michigan three weeks ago, it proved to be a disappointing reunion when Andretti suffered an engine failure in the No. 45 Dodge and had to call it a day after just 110 laps.

"We had an engine problem. Until they pull it apart, we don't know exactly what happened," Andretti said. "It's unfortunate, because we had a pretty good car after five or six laps. I couldn't get going on starts, but then after a few laps I got it going pretty good. ... I just keep working my way on up through [the field]."

Until the engine gave out completely, that is. Still, Andretti, who was subbing for Kyle Petty as Petty served as an analyst on the TNT television broadcast of the race, said he enjoyed being back behind the wheel for the organization he once drove for full time.

"I wish it could have been a little different and that we had different results, but it was fun," said Andretti, who finished third at NHIS while driving for Petty Enterprises in a 1998 race.

When he also subbed for Petty at Michigan, Andretti fared a little better -- starting 37th and finishing 27th, two laps down. He was credited with a 42nd-place finish Sunday.